Mexican Lasagna

This recipe uses corn tortillas in place of noodles. It smells delicious and is
very filling. A red pepper or green pepper will work, but if your family doesn't
care for peppers, use a cup of corn kernels. The casserole is fairly spicy - but
you could heat it up even more by adding a chopped jalapeno pepper.

Heat oven to 350°. Oil an 8x8-inch glass baking dish.
Heat oil in a large skillet and saute the beef, onion
and pepper together over a medium-high heat, breaking up
the ground beef as you stir with a wooden spoon or
spatula. After five minutes, stir in the garlic,
oregano, chili powder, cumin, paprika and continue
cooking until the beef is just cooked through, about
another five minutes. Remove from heat.

Add the cans of diced tomatoes, diced green chilies and
sliced olives into the skillet with the ground beef
mixture and stir well. (Mixture will seem soggy - this
is good.)

Overlap 3 tortillas on the bottom of the baking dish,
covering as well as possible. Spoon half of the beef
mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle half of the cheese
over the top of the beef mixture. Repeat by layering
three more tortillas, the remaining beef mixture and
remaining cheese. Press the layers down a bit with your
palm and then spoon the salsa decoratively over the top
of the cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes, until the casserole begins to brown
at the edges and is bubbly. Remove from oven and let
rest for ten minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

NOTES: Mexican Lasagna can be earlier in the day,
refrigerated and baked before serving. The resting time
is important - it will not serve well unless it sets up
a bit. Round tortillas in a square pan? It isn't
necessary to cover every inch of the bottom of the
baking dish with the tortillas, but if you wish - simply
cut the tortillas with scissors and pretend it's a
puzzle. Need to feed a crowd? Mexican Lasagna doubles
easily.

RV NOTES: This dish works well in the RV, because it
only uses one skillet and one baking dish. Make it even
easier on yourself and buy a bag of already-shredded
cheese. I can put this together in less than 15 minutes.

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